While Knowing It's Not That Simple

The alarm jerked Sam awake. He looked at the clock. It was seven o'clock, time to get ready for school. He jumped off the bed and took a quick shower. Sam went to his dresser. He took out a pair of pants from the third drawer on the dresser and put them on. Then, he opened his second drawer and chose a plain white shirt and put it on. He stopped for a second to smooth out the wrinkles in his shirt. He was feeling empty and a little bit sad today. He was feeling really weird. He reached and opened the top drawer on his dresser.

In the drawer were five masks. One was blue and had a great big smile on it. Another yellow with a painted on tongue sticking out. The third was black and a mouth that was shaped in a great big frown. The fourth was white and and had a thoughtful face. The final one pink with a heart on top and a dazed look on it. He grabbed his bag and stuffed the yellow, black, and pink masks into it. He grabbed the blue mask and placed it on the front of his head. Then, he flew out his bedroom door and ran down the steps down to the living room. He ran past the kitchen when-

“SAM!”

Sam turned back and headed into the kitchen. His mother was there desperately hurrying to pack a lunch. She finished packing a brown paper bag and turned to give it to Sam. She was wearing the exact blue mask that he was wearing right now. She hugged her son, but a loud honk interrupted their moment. Sam murmured a goodbye to his mother and flew out the door. As he was racing toward his father's car, he took off his blue mask and replaced it with his black grumpy one.

“Finally!”

Sam's dad grunted after that and they raced out of their driveway. Sam's father wore a mask exactly the same as his son. The trip to Sam's school was silent but short. When Sam got off at the school, his father grunted a goodbye and Sam grunted back. Before he left, Sam's father replaced his black mask with an expressionless orange one, and he took off for work.

Sam quickly out his yellow mask and switched his black one. He found a group of people next to the steps of the school. The group was laughing. Sam jumped into their circle and joined in. They talked, made jokes, and make silly noises. They laughed hysterically until the bell rang. As Sam ran into the room, he magically replaced his yellow mask with his white one. He sat in class listening until the bell rang.

He walked through the rainbow of faces. He saw a mask that was pink and had a heart on top, and he quickly switched his own to that mask's twin. He grabbed the hand of the person wearing the mask identical to his and pulled her into his arms. They chatted and laughed. They told each other how much they cared about each other, how they loved each other so much. They were so distracted that Sam noticed that there was almost no one left in the hall. He bid his love farewell and ran to his class.

He ran down the hall and saw the corner where his class would be around. He ran around the corner and ran smack dab into another person. He ended up in between other people. All his classmates were waiting outside the class, but this group was waiting right beside the door. That was what he could tell from the feet he was looking at right now. He was so embarrassed. He buried his mask into the floor.

“Sorry,” was all he could say

“It's fine.”

Then, Sam felt people picking him up. He was surrounded by a group of five people, three guys and two girls. They had the most beautiful masks. They were all different colors, ranging from pinkish white, to brown, to black. Their masks could change expressions from smiles to frowns, and to great big laughing faces. He wished he had one of these masks. He grabbed all his masks from his bag to see which one that would at least come close to these beautiful masks. He frantically looked at each mask and found that none of his masks were as beautiful as these. He got more and more frantic.

One of the girls, so beautiful was her face, came forward with a worried expression on her mask.

“Are you okay?”

Sam replied, “Forgive me, I don't have something to come close to yours.”

The girl's mask changed to puzzled, “Come close to my what?”

“Your beautiful mask.”

The girls' mask changed to a big laughing face and a laugh escaped her. All five laughed. The girl took out a mirror from her bag and took the masks from his hands. Then, she lifted up Sam's mask and lifted the mirror to his head.

“There's something that comes close to mine.”

The thing in the mirror was so beautiful. Just like the masks the five people around him had.

“Such a beautiful mask,” was all Sam could say.

“It's not a mask, it's called your face. But you're right it is beautiful.”

The girl's face changed into a smile, and Sam felt his change into something, maybe a smile too. He felt real, and he began to talk to his new friends, not hiding himself, no mask.

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